Many people are of the opinion that Islam encourages a person to make a vow to
offer some worship ritual if his wish is granted. Thus a person pledges before
God that he would, for example, keep a certain number of fasts or pray a certain
amount of optional prayers if a certain desire of his is fulfilled.

It needs to be appreciated that making vows of worship for the fulfillment of
certain wishes was never the way of the Prophet (sws) and his Companions (rta).
It means that a person is imposing a condition to carry out certain virtuous
deeds and also burdening himself with some thing which may ultimately be very
difficult to fulfill. Worship done in this manner may also adversely affect a
person’s relationship with his Creator. It becomes more of a mechanical act
often done in disregard to the spirit of worship. Worship should be done from
the willingness of the heart and from the eagerness of the soul, otherwise it
will fail to reap the real benefit it carries: purification of the inner-self.
In fact, worship done if one’s wish is not granted may at many times be more
beneficial in achieving this end.

The correct way in this regard is to pray to the Almighty that a certain wish be
granted. If the wish is granted, a person should express his gratitude by
letting his feelings take their own course and manifest themselves in whatever
form of worship at that particular time. Also, the quantity of worship does not
matter in such cases: it is the quality that really counts.

2. Praying after the ‘Asr Prayer is Forbidden

It is generally believed that Muslims have been forbidden to pray or prostrate
after the ‘asr prayer until maghrib.

It needs to be appreciated that according to the established Sunnah of the
Prophet (sws), the only forbidden times for prayer are sunrise and sunset. This
precautionary measure is meant to curb polytheism, since many nations of
antiquity worshiped the sun at these times. At all other times, prayers can be
offered. Consequently, one can pray between ‘asr and maghrib.

It seems that the following Hadith has led to the belief that no prayer can be
offered between ‘asr and maghrib:

The Prophet is reported to have said there is no prayer after dawn until the
sun rises and there is no prayer after ‘asr until the sun sets. (Bukhari,No: 561)

If all the texts of this
Hadith are collected, it
comes to light that a part of it has been left out in most of its texts. This
can be observed from the underlined portion of the following two A%hadith:

Do not pray after ‘asrexcept if the sun is shinning brightly high [in
the sky]. (Bayhaqi, No: 4196)

In other words, what the
Prophet (sws) actually forbade was praying very near the time of sunset since
this might accidentally lead a person to pray in the forbidden period of sunset.
Consequently, it is clear from these A%hadith
that if one intends to pray after ‘asr, one should make sure that one
does so before sunset. One has not been stopped from praying after ‘asr,
as has been inferred by some.

3. The Almighty asked for Ishmael’s Sacrifice?

It is generally believed that God asked Abraham (sws) to sacrifice his son. True
the sacrifice never took place but the question is: Why was is it asked for?

It needs to be understood that the Almighty never commanded Abraham (sws) to
sacrifice his son. It was Abraham (sws) who took this step thinking that the
Almighty wanted this to happen. In this regard, the following points must remain
in consideration:

1. Abraham (sws) thought that he was
directed to sacrifice his son by the Almighty in a dream shown to him. For the
Prophets of Allah, such dreams are a source of contact with the Almighty, and in
them they are shown certain images by Him for the purpose of their education and
instruction. However, as a principle, they are not to be interpreted literally;
they contain realities which are depicted in symbolic form. Symbolic
representation is a very subtle and powerful way of expression: facts seem
veiled, yet for one who pauses to ponder, they are most evident. So what needs
to be understood is that dreams of the Prophets of Allah are symbolic too. They
portray a fact in figurative form in order to make it more effective to
understand. As an example, consider the dream of the Prophet Joseph (sws)
mentioned in the Qur’an. It says that he saw the sun, the moon and eleven stars
bowing down to him. The interpretation of the dream offered by the Qur’an itself
at the end of Surah Yusuf shows that this bowing down was a symbolism to show
that his eleven brothers and father and mother would submit to his authority as
the king (12:100). Similarly, more examples can be given from the Qur’an.

2. The next point which arises is about the symbolism found in “human
sacrifice”. In other words: “What does human sacrifice stand for?” A knowledge
of the ancient scriptures reveals that human sacrifice offered to God symbolizes
consecrating and dedicating a person to the service of Allah:

You are to bring the Levites before the
Lord, and the Israelites are to lay their hand on them. Aaron is to present the
Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may
be ready to do the work of the Lord. ‘After the Levites lay their hands on the
heads of the bulls, use the one for a sin offering to the Lord and the other for
a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites. Have the Levites stand in
front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the
Lord. In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites,
and the Levites will be mine. After you have purified the Levites and presented
them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the Tent of
Meeting. They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have
taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from
every Israelite woman. Every firstborn male in Israel, whether man or animal, is
mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for
myself. And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons in
Israel. (Numbers 8:10-18)

As is evident from the underlined portion, the
symbolism found in “human sacrifice” is to set aside and dedicate a person to
the service of Allah. In other words, the Almighty actually wanted Abraham (sws)
to devote Ishmael (sws) for special tasks assigned by the Almighty.

3. Abraham (sws) in his spirit of submission to
the will of God started to follow his dream in the literal sense instead of
interpreting the dream; consequently, the Almighty told him that he had “made
the dream a reality”, which of course was not required. However, this
willingness to submit to a command of Allah as perceived by Abraham (sws)
greatly pleased the Almighty since it was based on sincerity and a great
readiness to do what he thought was Allah’s desire.

4. Charity can be given instead of Animal Sacrifice

Some people think that instead of sacrificing sheep on ‘id, one can
donate an equivalent in money to charities. This notion is not true and requires
a little elaboration:

For every human being who believes in Allah,
there are two distinct spheres of interaction in which relationships come into
existence. The first sphere covers a person’s relationship with Allah, while the
second one constitutes a person’s relationship with his fellow human beings.
Islam and all divinely revealed religions nothing but guide human intellect in
these two spheres. A person’s relationship with Allah manifests itself in
worship, which in Islam has some distinct forms. Similarly, a person’s
relationship with his brethren takes the form of social interaction, which again
has many areas. Total or partial negation of any one of these spheres results in
an unbalanced life. Extremism in the first sphere breeds monasticism and
ascetism while extremism in the second one breeds materialism. Islam wants every
person to create a balance in his life by giving each sphere its due. Similarly,
it wants a person to undertake the various prescribed forms of interaction in
both spheres since each has a definite purpose.

In the first sphere, Islam has prescribed specific forms of worship of which one
form cannot replace the other, since each has its own purpose and objective.
Animal Sacrifice is one such form of worship. It has an underlying philosophy
which must be well be appreciated in order to do it in letter and spirit. Just
as salah cannot replace zakah and vice versa, animal sacrifice
also cannot be replaced by zakah or charity. What animal sacrifice
induces in a person, zakah or salah or hajj do not.

The raison d’etre for animal
sacrifice on ‘id is to commemorate a great event which depicts an
extraordinary expression of submission to the command of Allah -- the essence of
Islam. The Prophet Abraham (sws) while obeying the Almighty set a platinum
example of this submission. When we offer an animal in sacrifice, we actually
symbolize our intention that we are ready to submit ourselves to Allah in any
way that may be required by Him, just as His great Prophet Abraham (sws) had
once done so with spirit and splendour, glory and grandeur.

5. Zakah cannot be given to Non-Muslims

Some people are of the view that zakah cannot be spent on Non-Muslims.
This view is not correct.

The following Qur’anic verse spells out the heads under which zakah can
be expended:

Zakah
is only for the poor and the needy, and for those who are ‘amils over it,
and for those whose hearts are to be reconciled [to the truth], and for the
emancipation of the slaves and for those who have been inflicted with losses and
for the way of Allah and for the wayfarers. (9:60)

It is evident from the verse quoted above that
the Qur’an does not discriminate between the recipients of zakah on the
basis of their beliefs or religion. In other words, zakah money can be
given to any needy person whatever his religion is.